Dreamland
by UnluckyAmulet
Summary: Sophie never forgot. Never underestimate the power of childhood memories. Post-Movie.


Disclaimer:Do not own, yadda yadda.

So I saw ROTG last weekend and immediately I was just like, "Agh, feelings!" Seriously, this movie is totally adorable. I love the characters, the scenery porn going on and I actually teared up at a few points. Eventually, a fanfic was born. I wrote about Sophie because, c'mon, have you SEEN that kid? The minute I sae her I was like, "Mother of god, she is ADORABLE." and then I started wondering what life might be like for her as she gets a bit older. :3

Enjoy!

* * *

She feels like she's spent her whole life chasing something.

Maybe that's true, to an extent.

From a very young age, Sophie has been a fervent believer in fairytales. It's not just because she loved the stories wholeheartedly, but it's because she has _lived_ it. The memories grow fainter and more indistinct as she grows older, but her conviction that they did indeed happen had never faded. As far as she is concerned, she doesn't need tangible proof to believe in something. It is a skeptical world Sophie lives in, but she embraces the certainty that she _did _meet the people that appear in her stories. For some reason, she knows, instinctively, that some things are just too important to be "just a dream."

She does worry about Jamie, however. They have talked (in hushed tones) about what happened that night when Jamie met Jack Frost. Of the man in black and his army of nightmares and he and his friends helped in fighting him back. Of believing in the guardians. She did not remember the Boogeyman, but she is greatful for that. Jamie, so excited was he to share his own memories with his little sister, had neglected to notice how her face fell when he admitted that, for a moment, he had almost stopped believing himself.

When Sophie starts school, there is nothing odd about her obsession with fairytales and the holidays. Not at first. As a matter of fact, her peers are fascinated when she recounts what she can remember of her adventures in the warren, all of them listening to the story on tenterhooks, regardless as to whether or not they had heard it before. They loved hearing the story, and Sophie would try to keep it fresh, throwing in new details as she retold the story, clarity coming to her with each retelling. She especially likes to talk about Jack Frost, because while the others are famous in their own right, she feels a sense of triumph when she mentions Jack. It's like she's doing her own small part in telling him, and the others, _I remember. I still believe. Thank you._

She hoped that they could hear her.

* * *

However, things don't last forever.

As Sophie progressed through school, some of her classmates began to grow jaded. Although she is not yet old enough to be totally isolated by her peers, the scorn Sophie received for adamantly insisting the stories were true took her by surprise. When Jamie confessed to her that he had almost stopped believing in the guardians entirely, she had always assumed it was because of Easter failing to happen. But even with presents delivered, teeth collected and eggs discovered, these children were happier accepting the cold, hard version: It was adults. Adults were responsible for their belief, and some of her classmates even resented their parents for being lied to in the first place. Sophie assumed that was why her own belief was met with such scorn. These children felt betrayed, that they had been tricked, and so the fact that she believed in spite of them telling her "the truth" made them resent her in turn.

"Jamie..." Sophie said.

Jamie looked up and gasped at the sight of his sister. Her clothes were wet and there were patches of dark soil on her knees. The palms of her hands were grazed, not enough to bleed but they still looked rather painful.

"Sophie, what happened?" Jamie asked as he chivvied his sister up the stairs to the medicine cabinet, Sophie almost tripping over the plush carpeting as she attempted to outpace her worried brother.

"Some kids pushed me in the pond." Sophie admitted, as she perched on the edge of the bath.

"What?!" Jamie cried, almost dropping the tube of cream he was holding.

"Yeah. They saw me reading my fairytale book in class, so they chased me after school."

Jamie's face looked torn between anger at what had happened to his little sister and surprise at how nonchalant she was about it. She had been a bit of a crybaby when he was younger, although he supposed that was what happened with little kids who were constantly following after older siblings and their friends. Sophie peered up at Jamie beneath her blonde mop of hair.

"Jamie, is that what happened to people when they stop believing?" Sophie asked, sadly. "Does everyone always turn so mean?"

"Not everyone turns mean, and not everyone stops believing, either, Sophie!" Jamie assured his sister. "We know that Jack, Santa, the Easter bunny, the Tooth Fairy and the Sandman are real, don't we? So what does it matter what they think?"

"But _you _almost stopped believing too!" Sophie burst out, her large eyes welling up with tears. "You told me so yourself, Jamie!"

Jamie's expression fell and for a moment he avoided his sisters accusatory gaze.

"Well...that's...Easter didn't happen when it was meant to, so..."

"But if you can almost forget once, how d'you know that you won't again?" Sophie insisted in a quivery voice. She didn't want to cry about this, but she was scared of being the only one who believed. "People forget things, Jamie! When they grow up they forget stuff that used to be important! I don't want to grow up and forget and be mean like them!"

Jamie bit his lip as her words sank in, but then an idea came to him and he smiled.

"Well, when they do come, we'll be waiting for them." Jamie said. "And maybe if they're not too busy, we can visit them like we did before. You can still remember it, right? They wouldn't forget about us, Soph. They're our friends."

Sophie smiled and latched her arms around Jamie's neck.

"Thanks Jamie." she smiled.

* * *

When winter finally does come around, nobody is more excited about it than Sophie, although Jamie isn't far behind in that regard. Their parents attribute it to Christmas, which is true to an extent, but they don't know the half of it.

"We'll get to see him soon!" Sophie whispered to Jamie on their way home from school, scarf fluttering behind her in the faint, chilly breeze. "We'll get to see Jack Frost!"

"And Santa." Jamie said, his grin widening.

Sophie nodded enthusiastically, hair bouncing.

"And Bunny, and Tooth, and Sandy and the fairies too!"

Jamie laughs and suddenly breaks out into a run, his sister's enthusiasm highly infectious. Giggling wildly, Sophie chases after him and soon they end up at the very pond Sophie was pushed into only a few months previously. It looks like something straight out of a storybook, surrounded by nothing but freshly-fallen snow, untouched by humans.

"It's not frozen over yet." Jamie observes, letting himself fall backwards into the snow bank and waving his arms.

"Aww..." Sophie laments.

"It needs a little help." A voice observes.

Sophie whirls around to see Jack, leaning against a nearby tree, nonchalant as you please.

"Jack! Jack!" she yelps, and without a second thought she runs over to him.

Her boots plough into the snow and she almost slips and falls face-down at one point, but she rights herself just as quickly and launches herself at Jack, wrapping her arms around him in a tight hug.

"Hey, it's good to see you too, kiddo!" Jack chuckles, ruffling Sophie's hair. "Did you miss me, then!"

"Yes! We've missed you a lot!" Sophie says, without a trace of embarrassment. "Right, Jamie?"

"Right!" Jamie grins, pulling himself into a standing position and shaking the snow off his shoulders. "Now the _real_winter starts!"

"Well, of course!" Jack grins as Sophie finally relinquishes her surprisingly strong grip around his midriff. "It wouldn't be winter without Jack Frost, right?"

Jamie laughs. Soon, the exchange melts into nothing but laughter as Jack instigates a snowball fight and Sophie is thrilled that she is finally old enough to cavort around with Jamie's friends without immediately being dismissed as a nuisance. It's funny she has always thought of Jack Frost as their friend, even if they only see him a few times a year. Soon their shouts attract the other kids, the ones who were there on that fateful night, and Sophie thinks that nothing will beat this moment.

Soon, however, as time often does when people are having fun, the time to leave came much more quickly than anybody would have liked. The sky turned an inky blue, spangled with stars, signaling that it was time for everyone to go home.

"Jack?" Sophie asks, chasing after the white-haired young man. "Jack, we'll see you soon, won't we? And everyone else, too!"

Jack grins at her and it strikes Sophie how very handsome he is. She's amazed she doesn't remember this from before, but she supposes she was probably too young to recall that.

"Of course you will." He tells Sophie, kneeling down so he is at eye-level with her, his own ice-blue eyes totally sincere. "It's almost Christmas, right? We'll come crashing down in that big ol' sled. You wouldn't be able to miss us if you tried."

"Awesome, we get to see Santa again!" cheers Jamie. "And Tooth Fairy and Sandman and-"

"The Easter Bunny!" Sophie chips in, bouncing on her heels. Of all the guardians, she remembers him the most clearly.

"He'll be happy to see you." Jack laughs, hoisting his staff over his shoulder. "Try not to miss us too much until then!"

With a wink, Jack departs on a gust of icy wind that causes both children to shiver, but Sophie couldn't care less as she waves up at Jack, silhouetted against the moon. She knows that she looks kind of crazy to some, waving to moon, but a secret smile plays at her lips and she is sorry that those people don't know what she knows.

When Christmas does come around, Sophie is about to sneak into Jamie's room to wait for their friends, but before she does, she catches a glimpse of the softly-falling snow and takes a moment just staring at it. The crescent moon smiles down at her and she thinks that maybe being labeled as different is simply the price she has to pay to take part in something magical.

Smiling faintly, Sophie turns and stealthy slips into Jamie's room, where he is already waiting impatiently for her.

"'Bout time!" he whispered, nudging his sister playfully.

"Sssh!" Sophie hisses, although both of them know their parents won't be waking up, as they are ridiculously heavy sleepers, but Sophie suspects there might be a slightly less mundane explanation behind it.

Jamie giggles softly and Sophie joins in. Both of them peer out of the window, waiting. They would know that sleigh anywhere.

Before long, a shadowy figure appears at Jamie's window, his white hair looking almost blue in the moonlight, accompanied by a chill that makes Sophie's heart leap with excitement.

She knows that she isn't dreaming.

* * *

Huh, I don't really care much for Jamie yet I had no problem writing him at all. And Sophie and Bunnymund's interaction in the movie was just ridiculously cute so I had to reference it. I had no choice in the matter

Thanks so much for reading!


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